Billed as a “Queer and Youth-Friendly Play”, Campfire Calamity – co-written and co-directed by Stacey Dalziel and Isaac Andrews – has heart-felt and honourable intentions. Its very clearly expressed message is delivered by a committed team of good actors, which includes the writer-directors.  

The premise is that a group of senior high-school kids go on a camping trip with their teacher, Mrs Piers (Jodie Lawrence). Let me get over, and past, this character first. In trying to discern if it is the way she is written, directed or performed that gets in the way, I conclude it is at least the last two. I can’t see the character for the acting (tip: there is nothing so unfunny as an actor obviously trying to be funny). Yet there seem to be interesting dimensions to Mrs Piers’ personal self in contrast to her professional self: is she an incompetent hypocrite with sexually predatory tendencies towards young male students or a genuinely vibrant and liberal person constrained by the responsibilities that come with her job?

Despite the contrivance of Mrs P’s “circle of trust”, whereby each character introduces themselves and their innermost feeling and anxieties (elements that could have been revealed in action through more sophisticated dramaturgy), the student characters come over as much more real. As a result, moments of truth-based comedy pepper the more serious elements of their personal struggles.

Sox (Stacey Dalziel) is the first to tell us what sux in their life is the body-shaming that has made them question their gender identity and declare they’re a boy; preferred pronouns them/they, if only people would respect that.

Isaac – who I think styles himself as ‘Super Loki’ (some things are hyped so much and gabbled so fast it’s hard to be sure) – is gay and feels alienated from such things as handshake rituals blokes go for. His recourses to wish-fulfilment fantasy are entertaining throughout the show – until a deeper truth surfaces.

Raven (Brie Shaw) feels ostracised as a deep thinker, aware that “there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”, yet her anxiety about climate change leaves her unable to commit to goals in her life. 

Jasper James takes on the ‘Jock’ role of Kyle, the gay-bashing misogynistic arsehole whose swaggering assertions undoubtedly mask uncertainty and fear of the self-inflicted unknown.  Kyle’s best mate since pre-school, Jake (Isaac Borgman), starts as the classic camp follower (if that’s the word) and slowly claims his own identity and integrity.

Scenes play out that develop the roles and relationships. They smoke a joint – we have to accept a filter-tipped electronic cigarette masquerading as a spliff. That the effect is instant is answered by its turning out to be oregano, proving the high is psychosomatic: a nice touch. Improv and Truth or Dare further progress the revelations and growth.

It’s interesting that (spoiler alert) Jake and Sox become an item – more than just good friends, I think. Does this suggest Sox’s identifying as male has been a defence against being body-shamed as female or that they – Sox and Jake – are intimately sharing their journeys of self-discovery, wherever it leads whoever they are?

Jake also becomes an empathetic friend of Raven who, feeling less alone, is more able to face her fears and “walk through darkness”. But hidden anxiety and despair do prevail in the case of one character, whose note to his family and friends packs a dramatic punch in its clarity.

Fortunately resolution prevails in various ways – not least through a group singalong of John Denver’s ‘Rocky Mountain High’. My misgivings notwithstanding, what remains for me is the value of being offered clear insights into how life can be for teenagers coming to terms with themselves, each other and a very uncertain future.

Footnote: It’s a great idea having your 5-page programme shrunk to a QR code on a tiny square of paper. Even better would be to have your houselights up enough for audience members to scan it – provided they have an i-phone or the right app on their Android.

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